Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge Brian Henning

Map

Allied Commanders • Dwight D. Eisenhower • Omar N. Bradley • George S. Patton • Bernard Montgomery

Allied Forces • 830,000 men • 424 medium tanks or tank destroyers • 394 artillery guns

American 19,276 killed 41,493 wounded 23,554 captured or missing British 200 killed 1,400 wounded or missing Allied Causalities

Nazi Commanders • Walter Model • Gerd von Rundstedt • Hasso von Manteuffel • Sepp Dietrich

Nazi Forces • 500,000 men • 500 medium tanks • 1,900 artillery guns and Nebelwerfers • Nebelwerfers is German for smoke launcher however it was a rocket launcher

Nazi Casulaties • 15,652 killed • 41,600 wounded • 27,582 captured or missing

Nazi Planning • Two plans were put forward for an offensive on the Western Front • A first plan for an encirclement maneuver called for a two-pronged attack along the borders of the U.S. armies around Aachen, hoping to encircle the Ninth and Third Armies and leave the German forces back in control of the excellent defensive grounds where they had fought the U.S. to a standstill earlier in the year • A second plan called for a classic Blitzkrieg attack through the weakly-defended Ardennes Forest, mirroring the successful German offensive there during the Battle of France in 1940, aimed at splitting the armies along the U.S.-British lines and capturing Antwerp.

Nazi Planning Continued • Hitler picked the second plan • He believed that if successful the first plan would have little impact • If the second attack were to succeed in capturing the port of Antwerp four complete armies would be trapped without supplies behind German lines • Named: Wacht am Rhein • Translation: Watch on the Rhine

Nazi Army’s Goals • Sixth SS Panzer Army was to capture Antwerp • Fifth Panzer Army was to capture Brussels • Seventh Army was to protect the Southern flank • Fifteenth Army was to hold the US forces in place

Criteria for Nazi Success • Nazi planners believed these objectives were necessary for German success • The attack had to be a complete surprise • The weather conditions had to be poor to neutralize Allied air superiority and the damage it could inflict on the German offensive and its supply lines • The progress had to be rapid. Model had declared that the Meuse River had to be reached by day 4, if the offensive was to have any chance of success • Allied fuel supplies would have to be captured intact along the way because the Wehrmacht was short on fuel.

Fighting • Nazi offensive started on 16 December 1944 with a massive artillery barrage • By 8:00 AM the all the German armies attacked through the Ardennes

Operation Stösser • 1,300 German paratroopers dropped at and hold the Baraque Michel crossroads • Due to bad weather most of the paratroopers were dropped far from the drop zone • Only 300 men were dropped at the crossroads • Instead of taking the crossroad and disrupting allied reinforcement and suppy lines, Colonel von der Heydte ordered his men to harass the Allied troops in the area • Allied leaders thought there had been a massive drop so they ordered some troops to the back to protect themselves • This gave the Germans an advantage

Operation Greif • The Germans sucessfully infultrated a small part of a batallion behind enemy lines as English speaking Germans • Did not take major bridges however they successfully disrupted Allied troops • General Patton wrote to General Eisenhower saying “Krauts… speaking perfect English… raising hell, cutting wires, turning road signs around, spooking whole divisions, and shoving a bulge into our defenses.”

Malmedy Massacre • Sixth SS Panzer Army encountered parts of the American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion after a short gun fight the Americans were captured • They were disarmed and then massacred • 150 died in the massacre

Reasons for the partial German success • United States Third Army predicted a major German offensive, the attack still achieved surprise. • Allies’ overconfidence • their preoccupation with their own offensive plans • poor aerial reconnaissance • and the relative lack of combat contact in the area by the U.S. 1st Army.

American Counter-Offensive • On December 23 the weather improved allowing the Allied air force to attack • Allies bombed supply lines and attacked the advancing troops • The air force was key to stopping the German advance

Germany Stikes Back • The Nazis started two new operations in order to keep the advancement moving • Operation Baseplate, a major campaign against Allied airfields in the Low Countries • This backfired because the Allies had a large number of flak guns protecting their airfields also the German anti-aircraft guns fired on their planes because they were not aware of the massive German air operation • The Germans also launched an offensive against the U.S. Seventh Army, called Operation North Wind, causing them to retreat

Allies Prevail • While the German offensive had ground to a halt, they still controlled a dangerous salient in the Allied line. Patton’s Third Army in the south, centred around Bastogne, would attack north, Montgomery’s forces in the north would strike south, and the two forces planned to meet at Houffalize. • Despite the extremly low temperatures the offensive went on • On January seventh Hitler agreed to withdrawl his forces from the Ardennes thus ending the conflict

Battle of the Bulge